Working effectively with consumers: Perspectives from students, teachers, nurses, and consumers

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education and Mental Health Practice
• Qualitative Healthcare Research
• Enrolled Nurse Competencies

Background:

• Meeting Australia's healthcare demands requires adequately prepared enrolled nurses (ENs) for mental health settings.
• Existing training may not fully equip ENs with the necessary skills to engage effectively with mental health consumers.
• Understanding stakeholder perceptions is key to refining EN mental health curricula.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore stakeholder perceptions of essential knowledge, skills, and attributes (KSAs) for enrolled nurses in mental health.
• To identify key areas for improving diploma of nursing (DN) training for mental health practice.
• To guide future training priorities for preparing competent graduate ENs.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative study employing focus groups and individual interviews with diverse stakeholders.
• Sample included students, graduate and experienced ENs, RNs, NUMs, teachers, and mental health consumers (n=44).
• Thematic analysis of collected data to identify key themes related to KSAs.

Main Results:

• Communication identified as the most critical skill for engaging with mental health consumers.
• Essential skills include critical thinking and clinical reasoning for managing acute situations in inpatient settings.
• Key knowledge areas encompass mental health disorders, symptoms, treatments, and psychotropic medications.
• Crucial attributes include confidence and empathy, vital for supporting vulnerable consumers.

Conclusions:

• Findings offer valuable insights for curriculum development in diploma of nursing programs.
• Training should prioritize communication, critical thinking, clinical reasoning, specific knowledge, and core attributes.
• Enhanced EN training will improve preparedness for working with individuals experiencing mental health issues.